History of European Civilization

Author: (French) Guizot
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-11-22
Features: The author, Fran?ois Pierre Guillaume Guizot (1787—1874), was a renowned French bourgeois politician and historian. He was born into a Christian family in N?mes, with his father being a famous lawyer who was executed by the Jacobin government in 1794. Guizot went into exile with his mother and returned to Paris in 1805 to study law. In 1812, he became a professor of history at the University of Paris. He participated in the Bourbon Restoration (1814), becoming an advocate of constitutional monarchy and a member of the "Catechists" group, and explained the group's political platform in the article "On Representative Government and the Present State of France" (1816). From 1820 to 1830, he mainly engaged in historical research and teaching, authoring works such as "History of the English Revolution" (1826—1827), "History of European Civilization" (1828), and "History of French Civilization" (1829—1832). During the July Monarchy (1830—1848), he was the leader of the constitutional monarchy party and had a significant influence on French political life. He successively served as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Education, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister, overseeing the domestic and foreign affairs of the July Monarchy. After the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848, he fled to England alone, ending his political career. Later, he returned to France to focus on academic activities. Guizot's main contribution to historiography was his absorption of Saint-Simon's ideas on class struggle, establishing the historical theory of class struggle for the bourgeoisie. In his early historical works, he attempted to explain the French Revolution, the English Revolution, and other historical events from the perspective of class struggle, aiming to argue that the bourgeoisie had the right to govern the state. In works such as "History of European Civilization" and "History of French Civilization," he developed the argument that the struggle of the Third Estate against feudalism was the main driving force of historical progress. However, after the French Revolution of 1848, his thoughts underwent a profound crisis. Faced with the fact that the working class had emerged on the historical stage and opposed the bourgeoisie in this revolution, he was horrified and attacked the theory of class struggle as "a harm and disgrace incompatible with our age." The French Revolution of 1848 not only ended his political career but also led him to completely abandon the theory of class struggle. This book is based on the lecture notes from Guizot's teaching at the University of Paris in 1828 and consists of 14 lectures. The author believed that civilization is composed of two facts: on the one hand, the development of human society, and on the other, the development of human beings themselves. However, this book is limited to social history, presenting civilization from a social perspective. Using a concise and compressed approach, the author successfully outlines the origins and development of European civilization, from the 5th century to the eve of the French Revolution. The main arguments of the book include: the origins, development, and characteristics of European civilization; the various factors of European civilization during the fall of the Roman Empire; the end of the invasion by barbarians in the 10th century and the beginning of feudalism; the nature of feudalism and its impact on modern civilization; the state of the Christian Church and its historical role from the 5th to the 12th century; the rise of municipalities, their internal governance, and their impact on the process of civilization; the causes, nature, and consequences of the Crusades; the development of monarchy; various attempts to establish political systems in Europe; the characteristics of the 15th century; the true nature and consequences of the Reformation in the 16th century; the significance of the English Revolution and its contribution to the process of civilization; the similarities and differences between the civilization processes of Britain and the continental countries; and the leading position of France in European civilization in the 17th and 18th centuries. This book is an important work for the study of European history and the history of civilization. It was soon followed by English and Russian translations shortly after its publication. The Chinese translation is based on the English translation by George Bell and Sons published in 1908 (translator: William Hazlitt). The English translation combined Guizot's "History of European Civilization" and "History of French Civilization" into a three-volume set. The Chinese translation, however, translated the two books separately and published them independently.